My Boston Acoustics Receptor Radio lost FM reception, so I sent it to BA's Iowa repair shop. Between shipping & the flat $35 repair fee, the repair cost me about $60, which I was willing to pay since I loved the radio and this model was no longer made.
The radio was returned to me not only in disrepair (FM is now crap instead of missing), but also with a nice new gouge on its face; how do you suppose this makes your old friend Chris feel?
Will the repair folk make good on at least the FM fix?
i expect them to deny the gouge........Unless you have dated photographs....which I wouldn't trust anyway, knowing I could photoshop anything to pass a non-technical inspection.
I could be a fisherman the gulf, so I suppose you're right?
I spoke with a/the repairman, seemed like a nice enough fellow, but this is utter BS! He claimed to have switched out the tuner module, but now weaker FM stations are still missing, and stronger stations are a static mess! When this radio worked, it locked on to the weakest stations like a vice-grip, so I'm not sure what the !@#$ is wrong?
If this is not resolved by the repair shop, I will be calling D&M to voice a complaint, and inform them that I have an Internet connection & am not affraid to use it.
UPDATE: The repairman, Eugene, contacted me today, and I think all will be resolved. He said they will pay for return shipping & replace my radio with a "new" factory refurbished unit; he's not sure what the problem is.
Leo, I think you might be right, but it's not an external connection problem, I've swapped out three different antennas with no luck, and it's not an environmental RF or EM issue, as all of my other radios are working fine.
"I spoke with a/the repairman, seemed like a nice enough fellow, but this is utter BS! He claimed to have switched out the tuner module, but now weaker FM stations are still missing, and stronger stations are a static mess! When this radio worked, it locked on to the weakest stations like a vice-grip, so I'm not sure what the !@#$ is wrong?"
Depending on the radio's age - you say it's now discontinued - the original OEM module may no longer be available or, at least, wasn't available to the repair tech in a timely fashion. This would mean Boston - or the tech - then chose another module with similar specs but not identical performance. This isn't uncommon as gear reaches "vintage" status and certainly not with tuners. You have to understand the manufacturer is no longer under an obligation to rebuild your unit to the original performance - just to return it as operational (a difficult condition to define with most tuners) - and they are not interested in having a large stock of tuner modules on hand. Without being cynical, their business is to sell new gear not fix old stuff. Even McIntosh said, "No gotta", when I called about filter caps earlier this year. Like it or not we live in an age of disposable electronics.
JV, This Receptor radio is about 2 years old (replacing a unit I foolishly sold-off, but soon missed), and it's a gem (you've heard me rave about it), but BA saw fit to update it with the Solo. The upgrade was said to be mostly cosmetic & connective, but I've read that the Solo has a buggy screen & it's performance lags behind it's predecessor.
I'm hoping the refurbished replacement unit is comprised of all original components; I'll let you know how it works out.
Wishin' ya luck. I hope the new unit is all original spec. and in working order. Module? and Jan has trouble w/swapping same value caps in the crossover of very old speakers! Something like this should bring out the guys with oxygen. As for being 2 years old? AND Not properly supported?
The unit is out of warranty I suspect, not many radios of any quality are warranted for more than one year. And the unit is being replaced. How much more support do you expect for an out of warranty product, Leo?
My problem was not in replacing caps in 1970's vintage Sansui speakers - as I said, I've heard those seakers and nothing you could do was going to drastically alter their performance for the worse. My comment was directed at anyone coming across that thread and thinking a recap is always a good thing. It most definitely can be a disaster if you don't gather all the information required to do the job properly and most people aren't even aware of the fact a capacitor has a total "impedance" value.
Jan, I agree....2 years is technically out of warranty. And since tech moves pretty quickly, I can see what you mean.
I still like companies that support there stuff. I know you do, too. Really, though, even though it is beyond the legal requirement, don't you think it would be good policy to have the right stuff for a fix available after the warranty runs out? That the BA lists the radio for 150$ might play into it. It is verging on being a 'commodity' radio and would therefore be considered disposable, except for the fact that people who like 'em, and feel bad about not being able to get a proper fix may be down the road.....to someone else who offers a decent table radio.
I have, and I think you do too, an original Tivoli. Nice radio.
My point in dragging the Sansui speaker back into it was simple. Caps do make a contribution to sound. No question about it. But look what BA just did. Replaced an entire module composed of many discrete parts and obviously many ICs as well. I'd have been complaining about that, as well. Talk about possibilities in changing the sound....and apparently basic functioning.
I paid $35 for the repair (+s/h), so this is really a case of a botched repair, not product support. I think it's still a reasonable expectation that a $150 radio (OK, I paid $99), should last more than 2-years. I was just at a cousin's BBQ where an old Aiwa CD boom-box I bought in 1989 provided the entertainment, this thing has had the crap beat out of it and it still sounds as good as it did 21-years ago!
And yes, I have a Tivoli Songbook, a very nice radio with a solid tuner, but it's not really a good table-top design, as it tips over too easily, and it doesn't come close to the SQ of the Boston. The Tivoli "Kloss" Model One, might sound as good (although I've read reviews that it doesn't), but it doesn't have an alarm, and I kind of need that in my bedroom.
The Tivoli has a sensitivity to the surface it sits on. I've experimented with turning it on its side to decouple the port from whatever its sitting on. Agreed about the Aiwa. Sounds like a survivor. I still have a GE 8 transistor portable which works. Go Figger.
A client of mine has a Cambridge Soundworks 740 Radio, bought on my recommendation, which sounds fantastic. If the Receptor bites the dust, I'll be looking to CS for a replacement.
"Jan, I agree....2 years is technically out of warranty. And since tech moves pretty quickly, I can see what you mean.
I still like companies that support there stuff. I know you do, too. Really, though, even though it is beyond the legal requirement, don't you think it would be good policy to have the right stuff for a fix available after the warranty runs out?"
Yes, it's great when you call to ask for a component to repair your near fifty year old amp or 35 year old speaker and you're told the part is in stock. But how components are built has changed radically over the last twenty years.
Here's my guess regarding CM's BA radio. It is a system comprised of modules which are either designed by BA and built elsewhere or a system of individual modules wholey and generically designed and built elsewhere and simply gathered and incorporated by BA into their product line. Like most CD and DVD players most mass market components are made up from parts the "manufacturer" does not build and most do not even design. The original designer/manufaturer of each part will then build "X" number of modules or chips or whatever the case may be. When that run is finished the run for all similar parts is or may be completed and it's up to the component manufacturer (BA in this case) to buy a sufficient supply of spares to enable repairs for the warranty period and probably - hopefully - somewhat beyond.
As I've said on this forum many times, things break. It doesn't matter which brand you select, things break. I know from experience most mass market components do not get built with discrete components. The chips and modules are replaceable as entire pieces. This is good and bad in that it makes the initial purchase quite inexpensive relative to quality but it also makes repairs more expensive because you can no longer replace a 20 cent part. That a piece'o'crap continues to work while the better machine fails is somewhat a bit of luck and somewhat the better component working to finer tolerances that do not survive a drifting cap or resistor.
If the modules failed at an excessive rate or BA judged they were unlikely to fail and didn't buy enough back stock, then a problem arises. Modules might be restocked with a later production run but you might have to wait for that run to occur which means a long wait in the shop. As I said, at that point the tech might decide to use an "equivalent" module that was more readily available. Particularly in tuners "equivalent" doesn't mean equal performance.
I certainly could be wrong about all this but that's how I've seen this sort of repair occur and with increasing frequency over the last two decades. No one really designs mass market products, they just assemble the individual parts on a spec sheet, put it out for bids for assembly and put their name on the front panel.
I own the Tivoli PAL. A modest radio, I'm not as impressed by its overall performance as I was with the Models One and Two but I wanted a portable radio. I know Kloss designed the tuners but Tivoli didn't build the tuner section itself here in the US. Hardly any American company can afford to do so nowdays and the product will undoubtedly cost more for that priviledge. "Assembled in the USA" means just that.
Jan, You're right in that you or I could become radio 'manufacturers' by the careful selection of available modules and some time with integrating them into a playable radio....or whatever.
In the semiconductor industry at least, when a part is going to be made obsolete, you do what is called a 'buildout'. You estimate usage or demand for 'X' # of years, build em and store / ship to venders and aftermarket people. You're thru at that point.
IR within the last 4 years sold the least profitable part of the business and some technology to Vishay. At some point, Vishay closed down there end of the business, did a build out and took 'there' designs and old-technology elsewhere. That freed up maybe 40,000 square feet of expensive 'fab' space which was quickly backfilled with new equipment making newer, more profitable devices for IR.
Too bad about the way stuff is made / labeled today. At the 'dawn' of the transistor age, Sony turned down a deal to make radios for (?) because they wanted to build a brand and get recognition. Now, if you came up with the $$, they'd build you anything with any name.
I'm sticking with the Tivoli #1. And, I fixed my antenna problem with a balun and a couple lengths of coax! All from 'stock'.
I HAVE A SIMILAR PROBLEM RE: FM RECEPTION DISAPPEARING FROM MY BA RECEPTER CLOCK RADIO. TRIED A COUPLE OF ANTENNAE WITH NO LUCK. ONLY HIGHER FM BANDS SEEM TO COME IN. ANY IDEAS OUT THERE?